>CITI (The Wall Street Journal)

Can Citigroup continue to lift the stock market?

Stocks soared Tuesday after Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank was profitable in the first two months of this year.

Citi is arguably the nation's sickest large bank, so any sign it can produce real earnings in this economic climate bolsters confidence. What's more, if Citi is on the road to profitability, there is a greater chance the government's bank-sector revival plan -- involving stress tests and possible equity injections -- will get financial firms through the downturn.

So it is worth parsing Mr. Pandit's comments. "We are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007," he said in a memo to employees Monday.

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